My lack of preparation nearly backfired

I arrived in England, and was making all my plans thinking that my flight from London to Munich was on Tuesday. My lease at the boarding house in Erlangen starts on May 1, and I thought I had bought my plane ticket for Tuesday. But no, I was wrong. Turns out that I fly out from London tomorrow, on April 30th to Munich. So, I guess that will give me the opportunity to stay in a hostel in Munich.

So, yes, my poor planning skills nearly backfired, its a good thing that I checked the flight, but there is one good thing about going a day early, and that is that I'm sure Munich is cheaper than London. Seriously, the exchange rate is over 2 dollars for one pound and everything in London costs the same amount in pounds, if not more, as in dollars back in the US. The only thing that doesn't appear to have a 1 dollar to 1 pound correlation is pints. I'm ok with that, pints are about 2 pounds 50, which ain't that bad, even in dollars, for a big city. I'm not complaining though, I had some wonderful curry on Friday and Chinese tonight. So, yeah, it was double what I'm used, but you only live once and who knows when I'll be back in the UK. Oh wait, I do, end of July when I fly back to the states.

Right, travel plans taken care of. Let's move backwards to last night. Bryan and I went out towards Putney (great fun to say) around 5 pm for some pints at a pub right on the Thames. Great times there, you get your pint, walk out the bar, and stand on the pavement looking down on the river. Had a couple of bitters there and then moved on to another pub. It was a bit crowded but we grabbed a table outside, after a while a couple of ladies looking for a spot to sit joined us, but at that point I was waiting in line to get a couple of 6 pound burgers from the barbecue there. So, I return and there are some ladies at the table, but they are engorssed in their conversation and we are engrossed in our beers. Plus, I wasn't extremely keen on chatting with them, as neither was extremely attractive (oh, mental note, Englsih women, in general, not cute).

A bit latter, another two of their friends showed up to share the table, and then I became interested in conversing with them. I noted the unattractiveness of the English before, allow me to take this opportunity to comment on the loveliness of the Irish. And yes, this is relevant as one of the new arrivals was a lovely Irish lass. (I really must make it over to Ireland this summer). Anyway, Bryan and I end up chatting with the ladies for a while, it gets on towards midnight, and then we decide to pop over to a club.

Arrive at club, 10 QUID coever! Crazy, I can't abide this stuff. Anyway, club wasn't that bad, they were at least playing some R&B, but most of the songs they were playing were awful. I don't understand how some one who apparently doesn't care for dance music and has dreadful taste ends up being a DJ at a club, but apparently this is the norm, because I've respected maybe one or two club DJs I've ever heard. Aside from the crap music, it was nice to be in a club. Ya'll know I love to dance, and despite the poor musical selections, I was able to do that.

Right, so then its getting on toward 3 am, and yes, that means that we've been out and about for nearly 10 hours, luckily, since my undergrad days, I have learned the importance of pacing myself. So, yes 3 am, the ladies, one of whom is keen on Bryan (unfortunately, the lovely Irish girl appears not to be so keen on me)
- oh wait, let's stop a moment for an aside. Earlier in the evening, I was in fine form. First, one of the girls was talking about her troubles letting some fellow go after she'd been on a couple of dates with him - it just wasn't there. So, of course I jump in with some advice, etc. And end up offering up a gem piece of advice that included the term 'Adult lovers.' I have no idea where this came from. It was ridiculous, and a bit funny, but really just silly. I was talking in some way about how honesty about when you are not keen on someone is the best way to go, and then I said 'Adult lovers.' Oh, and I also managed to insult their drinking habits by criticizing their decision to drink a rose. So, yes, I was surprised they were still around.

So, back to the club. The ladies invite us to their flat for a bit. At the flat, we encounter a 6 foot long (or rather 2 meter) iguana. Yes, there was a giant iguana there. It was asleep. I tickled it, it responded. It was funny. Right, so we spent a little time there, had a spot of tea, watched a bit of the television, and then Bryan and I proceeded home.
A fun evening, but I probably could have ended it 5 hours earlier and been just as happy and in much better shape this morning.

Today, played a bit of softball, or rather helped some british learn to play softball in Regents Park, had a few pints at a pub, had some Chinese food, and then came back to Bryan's to write this ridiculously long blog.

I am wordy.

And I am leaving for Germany tomorrow. I need an English to German dictionary.

Cheers!

Lovely England

England has greeted me warmly, with temperatures around 25 C, and wonderfully sunny. Getting here wasn't the most fun. We sat on the runway in Chicago for two hours because of misty conditions and some baggage issues. I also wasn't feeling so hot, so I took some Tylenol PM before getting on the plane. The good news: Tylenol PM knocks me right out. The bad news: it knocked me out much too quickly, so I fell asleep while we were on the runway, but I was then unable to fall asleep during the seven hour flight.

I watched Dreamgirls on the flight, there's no way that film should have been considered for best picture. Thankfully, it didn't win, it was mostly crap, with only a few decent songs.

Arrived in Manchester too late to catch my scheduled flight to London, but got on another one easily enough at 10:30 GMT (4:30 am my time). So, of course, I get on that 1 hour flight and I fall right asleep. I arrived in London a tired and sweaty man and caught the tube to my buddy Bryan's sweet place. Not the greatest location for fun and bars(its around a bit aways from the tower bridge, but right on the Thames) but he ain't complaining as its a good deal and furnished. I took a little nap upon arrival and then took the tube over to the Liverpool St area (the financial district) where Bryan works to meet him after work for a few drinks.

I missed British Beer. Especially the proper draughts.

We then proceeded to a nearby area to get some proper curry. I also missed Indian food. And this place was excellent, several appetizers and an order of lamb curry and Nan later, I entered a coma - part food, part lack of sleep. So, Bryan and I returned to his place, and finished off the evening with some Scotch Whiskey and Cubans.

This morning, I awoke fully rested and London time. So, while Bryan went into work for a bit to study for his CFA exam, I took the tube over to the Tower Bridge area. I toured the Tower of London on my own and took some good pictures (which I'll post after I get them developed). Saw the Crown Jewels (yawn), the armory was pretty neat though. I saw most of the rest of the sights in London back in 2000, so I'm content with that being my lone touristy thing.

We'll hit the town tonight, and then tomorrow, interestingly enough, there's a softball practice for his company's team. A lot of British lads are going to be playing who have never played before, so I'll be able to lend my expertise to help them out.

I don't have any crazy stories yet. I'm sorry. I feel like every blog I post without a funny story is a failure. So, please don't give up on me. Maybe I'll have some good ones after tonight.

Europe Countdown T minus 3 Days

I'm still confused about how I should count down the days. Should I count down to my departure date? If so, then T minus 2 days, but if we go by arrival, then it is 3 days.

This evening, I enjoyed myself thoroughly at the lovely Cafe Montmarte. Half-priced bottles of wine can not be beat, especially when accompanied by live jazz. An added element to the evening was running into an old lady-friend of mine. It was lovely to see her again and she gave me a good tip on a Croatian town on the Adriatic to visit.

My next few days will consist of work, a haircut, more work, moving, a TAA meeting, more moving, alcohol, and a bus to Chicago. It is then, dear friends, that I shall depart for Europe - never to return to you in the same state that I have left. That state, of course, consists in part of never having been east of Barcelona. But, come May 1st, that shall all change, I will emerge a new, and slightly more beer-gutted man after my time in Deutsch land.

Why blog? Europe, that's why.

Right. Welcome to the blog.
So, I'm leaving for Europe in less than two weeks, and thanks to a suggestion from Au, I've decided that I will do my best to post some musings, ramblings, and stories about my time in Europe.

After that, who knows if I will continue. Hell, I can't even promise that I'll be that good about updating from Europe, but I'll try. There will also be some delay in posting pictures, as I don't have a digital camera. But rest assured, I will find a way to post some choice photos.

So, yeah, welcome. I'm going back to listening to the Brewers game.